Depending on their construction and their field of indication, medical bandages of this kind essentially exert a fixing, guiding, supporting or compressing action on the corresponding body part, such as, for example, the limbs. They are also used in the treatment of burn wounds.
The bandages are produced by cutting out suitable blanks from planar material, such as, for example, more or less elastic woven fabrics or knits, foam materials, e.g. neoprene, and the like. The anatomically adapted shape is in this case achieved by the shape of the blanks and their subsequent joining together, if appropriate also with additional darting and gusseting, as is also normal procedure in the manufacture of clothing.
The joining together is normally done by sewing or gluing. The great disadvantage of this is that an exact anatomical fit of the bandages can be achieved only with difficulty, and a large number of connecting points, such as seams, are often created. These connecting points partially alter the properties of the material used, e.g. its elastic properties and adaptability, and this poses in particular the risk of pressure points or chafing points on the skin.
This occurs most often in the case of compression stockings and bandages for burns. The bandages for burns have a large number of seams, for example in the region of the female breast or in the facial region, and these can lead to painful pressure points.
Another possible way of producing medical bandages is the shaped knitting with flat knitting machines or circular knitting machines. However, this method is limited in terms of the possibility of shaping and the choice of material, especially since in most cases only two-dimensional shaping is possible and the third dimension has to be achieved again by means of connecting points such as seams. Such a method is also time-consuming.
Orthopaedic ortheses are also known in which foam rubber is deformed under pressure to different thicknesses and densities. In this way, functionally suitable designs can be made and the properties of the material can be locally altered (WO 95/32 690). However, these are relatively rigid standard products, and exact fitting to the anatomical shape is not achieved.
It is moreover known to shape thermoplastic plates in such a way as to give orthopaedic ortheses and prostheses of suitable form. The materials, e.g. HDPE or polypropylene and its copolymers, have a thermoplastic deformation range of approximately 170-250.degree. C. and are substantially rigid after cooling, so that they cannot be used for soft and adaptable medical bandages.